


Excogitation

by StarkFall



Category: DCU, DCU (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types, Teen Titans - All Media Types, Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fluff and Angst, Gay, M/M, Smut, TimKon Week
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2020-09-28 16:36:14
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20429066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarkFall/pseuds/StarkFall
Summary: Tim Drake is the world's 2nd best detective, a fact his adoptive father and mentor never lets him forget. However not even the best detective skills can help you navigate the sudden reappearance of your long thought dead estranged sibling, ontop of dealing with teenage angst, possibly falling for your best friend, oh and who could forget your worst enemy joining forces with the world's leading megalomaniac. Yeah detective skills aren't gonna cut it this time. But maybe something super can?





	1. Genesis

Genesis

“Oracle, i'm in.”

Tim looked around at the dark walls of the LexCorp Science facility he’d just infiltrated on the border of Central City. The mission was simple, someone had tipped off the League that Lex was trying to manipulate the DNA of civilians to give them Meta-Genes. Oracle was able to locate the lab in question, and Tim was asked to conduct a recon operation in secret to confirm or deny the tip, and then report back to Oracle and the League with his findings. The hardest part for Tim was keeping it a secret from his team. 

“So that's when i said i don't care if your father is the CEO of Wayne Enterprises there's no way in hell i'm doing that ex…” 

Tim pressed his entire body flat against the wall in the hallway he was in, taking a shuddering breath. That was too close… he'd been so caught up in his head that he didn't notice the two scientists walking around a corner until it was almost too late. He thanked his reflexes for being alert even when he consciously wasn't and sighed. If HE was here Tim would've gotten a very stern glare followed by a “tsk.” 

Tim watched as the scientists retreated further down the hall and eventually disappeared from sight before continuing. It seemed the facility was a huge oval and Tim was of the far left side. He figured whatever the facility deemed important would be closer to the center so he ventured on. There were a series of rooms each with a letter and number corresponding to it. A-27, B-54, and so on. Each room also had a glass window which Tim reasoned was for observational purposes. The most striking part though was that all the rooms were empty save for a huge metal tube in the center which reminded Tim of an incubation chamber. He quickly took pictures and sent them to Oracle while keeping aware of his surroundings. 

The hallway he was in curved around into another one which led to a huge room in the center of the facility. It was here that Tim saw exactly what was going on. The facility was a lot bigger than he'd initially thought. He was standing on the top level, while the facility seemed to have 5 levels each with a circular hallway like the one he was just in. The open area in the middle seemed the be the heart of the structure. There were plenty of scientists moving around to more of the little pods. Only the difference was these pods actually had people inside of them. They looked to be in some sort of suspended animation floating in a green liquid. The scientists were using openings on the sides of the pods to inject some strange yellow liquid into the chamber. Tim was a smart person but even he was at a loss for whatever was happening down below him. He noticed a room off to the side of the main area, and what looked like the makings of a computer. Not wasting any time he moved along the railing, hugging the shadows like a cloak. He wished Raven were here, it would be so easy to just poof down there with her powers. He still wasn't exactly sure how it all worked. He blamed Batman for neglecting to give him a proper education on magic due to the man’s strong disbelief in the arcane. 

Somehow he managed to get to the main floor without being seen, but the door leading into the side room was locked with a pretty intense encryption. From the looks of it numeric, and biometric. Tim rationalized he could easily crack it, but he had about fifteen seconds until one of the scientists noticed him kneeling off to the side. He took out his grappel and shot up to the railing he'd just descended from hanging off the side in a slight alcove hidden by a pillar. He took out his decryption tool from his belt and hoped he was in range to break the lock from a distance.

“Damn… out of range..”

He needed a distraction.. Preferably something big enough to scramble everyone in the immediate area. He looked around until he noticed some fire sprinklers. He readied one of his shuriken and took aim. Instantly the entire room was being drenched in water. The scientists started flailing trying to cover paperwork or to salvage anything fragile. Tim used the distraction to slip right in front of the door, it would take him approximately 20 seconds to crack the encryption, he figured he had about 25 until his presence was noticed. He got to work right away.

The first part of the lock was super simple a 6 digit password that was cracked in seconds. The second part however was the biometrics, and that required a bit more skill. He had to basically convince the system that the correct DNA sample was being input, but he had to do this without knowing the correct sample. 

13 seconds.

The commotion around him was beginning to calm down, the sprinklers had turned off and the scientists were beginning to compose themselves, checking on the tubes once again.

6 seconds.

Tim was beginning to get anxious, he was quickly running out of time and the lock still wasn't opening. Just when he was about to give up he heard a soft beep, and the door slid open. He dived into the room with just enough time to spare, as a scientist was now occupying the space he’d been in just mere seconds before. Looking around Tim took in his new surroundings. The window right beside the door had some shutters, quickly checking the outside he lowered the shutters and moved over to the computer.

P A S S W O R D: 

Typical, more passwords. This one however was easy and he cracked it in no time. 

P A S S W O R D: M E T A G E N E

A C C E S S G R A N T E D.

Tim couldn't help but smirk at the password, he equated it to someone making their phone password their birthday then remembered it was Lex Luthor he was dealing with, the king of hiding things in plain sight. He took out a small chip from his belt and attached it to the hard drive, before taking a tether cable and hooking it into his personal drive. 

“Oracle, i'm downloading the contents of the main computer, copy”

Silence, for the first time Tim realized she never responded to him when he first entered the base. Swearing to himself for not noticing it sooner he came to the conclusion there was some sort of jammer in place preventing him from making contact with the outside. Looks like he was completely on his own this time.

17% transferred, he took this extra time to do a little snooping. There were a myriad of files on the computer. He managed to find a detailed map of the base, which he memorized for his escape pretty soon. In addition he found another encrypted folder named Project Genesis. Upon closer inspection he gasped.

This was it, apparently Luthor was kidnapping orphans in the middle of the night and bringing them to this lab where he locked them in incubation chambers to inject them with the meta-gene. He was building an army..and what better test subjects than kids nobody would miss? Tim felt a sharp pang in his chest realizing that he could be just like any one of these kids if Br-Batman hadn't found him and taken him in. Tim wondered what the control sample was, Luthor was a smart man, he wouldn't just inject people with random powers.. He must've had a base set of DNA from a meta-human that he was trying to replicate.. All Tim had to do was search for the right…

“Shit….”

Conner.

He was using Conner’s DNA to produce a serum which he was then injecting into the kids… That must've been the liquid he saw earlier...But something still wasn't adding up… Tim kept digging and discovered the cause, Luthor hadn't been able to actually get it to work. All the subjects reject the DNA, in extreme cases they even died.

“There has to be more…”

DING!

“Transfer complete.”

Tim grabbed the little chip and inserted it into a hidden compartment in his wrist. Just as he was powering the computer down all the lights turned red and a blaring alarm sounded throughout the facility.

“Not good…” 

He instantly sprang into action looking for a way out, he spotted a nearby air vent and made his way for it, but he was instantly thrown back against a wall with intense force. His head hit the concrete and stars exploded in his vision.

“Leaving so soon boy wonder? But you haven't had a chance to play with my new pet yet.”

Slowly opening his eyes Robin came face to face with Slade and a female figure wearing an all black kevlar suit with a cowl covering the majority of her face. As his vision returned he could see she was similar in build and age to him, with blonde hair and a cold gaze.

“So good to see you again big brother.”

Tim couldn't help but show his shock, it couldn't be..

“S-Steph But you're-you died! I saw you die! What are you doing here, with Slade of all people?”

“Now now Robin don't get jealous, you know you'll always be my favorite apprentice but sometimes.. You have to upgrade to a newer model..”

Tim ignored Slade’s jab and focused on Steph.

“We looked for you for weeks, but we never found your body so we thought you ended up like Jason! Come on Steph what are you doing? Let's get out of here..”

Tim made a move towards her and she launched a high kick aimed at his jugular, he quickly side stepped out of the way using her momentum to launch a sweep kick. Steph saw it coming and quickly jumped up in the air before launching a flurry of punches and kicks at Tim. 

Tim for his part met her blow for blow even getting off a few hits on her. Steph ran along the side of the nearby wall launching herself at Tim with a spinning kick which he couldn't avoid in time. He was sent spiraling back onto the floor with barely enough time to react as her boot came down on the spot his head had just been in. Tim couldn't help but be reminded of their time training in the batcave and how they were evenly matched in skill, but Tim was the more tactical of the pair. She threw her body at him in another kick and he saw his chance. He grabbed her leg and swung her body around tossing her so she was in front of the air vent. Reaching into his belt Tim grabbed 2 shurikens and threw them aiming for the air vent knowing she'd dodge them. The shuriken managed to knock the vent off its hinges slightly, but that was the only opening he'd need.

Slade clapped his hands laughing with obvious glee.

“What do you think Robin? Does she live up to your expectations? You were my apprentice too so it's only fitting you judge your replacement. I think she's doing quite well.”

From outside the room Tim could hear guards coming their way, lots of them by the sound of it. 

12 seconds.

“Steph… come home… You don't have to do this…”

“My home is here, with mister Luthor and master Slade.”

Tim sighed his mind made up. He tossed a few metal balls at Steph which she caught with ease. Tim smirked at Slade holding up a small remote.

“I think she still needs a little work, you must be losing your touch with age Slade. Maybe it's time to revisit the drawing board.”

Slade’s eyes went wide as Tim pressed the button and a massive explosion ensued in the small space. Reacting faster than he'd ever reacted before Tim dove for the vent making it just in time as the other occupants of the room were sent flying in various directions. He quickly climbed the shaft, ending up back on the top floor. From there he used his memory of the layout of the facility to escape. Getting out proved to be a lot harder than getting in because the guards were on high alert. The security seemed to have quadrupled since his little stint in the lab, and it was all he could do to avoid drawing even more attention to himself. A fight here would surely mean getting captured, or worse.

Once outside Tim pressed the panic button on his Comm, and within seconds he felt the familiar pull of the Watchtower’s teleporter beaming him away. The last thing he saw was Steph running out of the base looking a bit charred as he was whisked away.

~~~~

“Explain what happened down there Robin. You blew your cover and needed an emergency evac, why.”

Tim sat in one of the many conference rooms aboard the Watchtower staring cowl to cowl with his adoptive father and mentor Batman. He could feel the disappointment radiating off of the elder man, and he hated knowing he was the cause. Tim hadn't meant to get seen, in fact he probably would've noticed someone sneaking up behind him if he hadn't been so involved in the computer. He touched his finger to his wrist revealing the tiny compartment and slid the chip over to Batman.

“Everything I found is in there, I infiltrated the base fine, in fact the whole operation went smooth, until Slade showed up…” 

Tim hesitated unsure if he should say the rest but deciding it was best to be transparent with the man now rather than have him find out some other way later.

“Steph was with him as well…”

The only reaction Batman had was a slight twitch of his finger, so minute that unless you were accurately aware of the movement or looking for it,(which Tim always was) you would've missed it.

“I'm not sure what they were doing there, or what Steph was doing with Slade, or how she's even alive but there they were.”

“You're sure it was her?”

Tim nodded “She even called me big brother.”

Batman looked outside the Watchtower towards Earth the sun would be rising soon over Coast City, he'd have to get going soon if he didn't want his team to notice his absence. Batman seemed to realize this too because he was soon being dismissed.

“Robin… Keep everything that's happened between us, don't tell your brothers, or any of the titans. As of now only the two of us and Oracle know.. is that clear?”

Tim nodded but didn't say anything else. He stood and walked out of the conference room feeling overwhelmed.. his sister not by blood but in every other way was still alive.. Not only was she alive, but she was also working with Deathstroke. He remembered being under the man’s influence himself so he realized how hard it was to break free.

“Hang in there Steph, we're going to save you.”

He only hoped she was willing to be saved. 

~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, so this is a story I've had sitting on my Google docs for about 2 years. I decided to post the first chapter to see if there was any interest in it, if you guys want I'll continue to write this story (ontop of finishing my other work that's been lying abandoned for 2 years). As always give me some feedback in the comments!


	2. EVOL

EVOL

Tim was beyond exhausted as he walked back into Titan’s tower. The events from last night kept replaying over and over in his head. Why had Steph joined forces with Deathstroke, better yet how was she even alive… He still remembered the cold lifeless look on her face when…. No… Tim admonished himself, now was not the time to wallow in self pity and doubt. 

Titan’s tower felt near abandoned in the early morning hours, the usual hustle and bustle completely gone replaced with endless silence and nothingness. Tim preferred it this way. He made his way over to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk. A quick check at the expiration date showed that it was still good for another week. He smiled sadly at it, if Dick were here he would pitch a fit about how Tim should only drink the most fresh secretions of any animal. He chuckled out loud at the sentiment.

“What’s so funny, and where have you been all night mister?”

Tim jumped at having been caught off guard for the second time that night. Almost out of reflex his hand went to one of his shuriken only relaxing when he noticed who the voice belonged to. He instantly felt horrible for almost attacking his friend.

“I'm sorry Kon.. I just had a rough night on patrol Batman needed help back home. As for what was funny, I was just thinking about how Dick would give me shit for drinking milk that's close to expiring.”

Tim hated lying to Kon, but judging by his expression, he seemed to believe it. Kon looked well gorgeous like he always did, His hair windswept against his forehead no doubt implying he had been flying recently, his shirt emblazoned with the house of El symbol stuck to his chest showing off his muscular from, while sweat dripped from his brow. Tim noted whatever he had been up to had been strenuous. He had known he was attracted to men pretty much as long as he could remember, watching Dick and Jason train shirtless had been a very enlightening experience for him, albeit very shock inducing. He remembered Bruce sitting with him and explaining that his feelings were natural and nothing to get worked up over. Ever since it had been a spiral, although no man had yet to make him feel like his best friend did. Kon’s natural charm, and charismatic ways left Tim breathless on more than one occasion but Kon seemed not to notice.

Kon moved to stand directly in front of him his brow furrowed in deep thought, a rare look for him Tim considered casually. Kon leaned in and embraced Tim in a crushing hug. Normally Tim would've huffed and offered back some resistance against the gesture, but after the night he'd had he simply sighed and leaned into the embrace. He was welling up with emotion he didn't realize he'd been holding in. All of the events of the last 8 hours were catching up to him, and not for the first time he was grateful that his friend seemed to always know what he needed exactly when he did.

“Yeah sure, Just know that i'm here for you alright bird brain?” 

Kon ruffled his hair slightly before letting him go. That was the other nice thing about Kon, he didn't pry. He knew Tim would share what he was comfortable with whenever he felt like doing so. However it didn't help that Kon was a part of Tim’s distress, he needed to figure out where Luthor was getting samples of Kon’s DNA, and also how to stop him from injecting it into those helpless orphans.

"So boy wonder got any plans for today?"

Tim was brought out of his internal musings by Kon's question he looked over as the man bit into an apple. Tim had always hated the nickname passed from Robin to Robin and if it were anyone else he would've shown them how much he disliked it indeed, however with Kon he just shrugged.

"Not particularly, probably just going to train a bit and wait for something exciting to happen."

Tim looked over out the window to see Jump City. The sun was rising and the rest of the titans would be awake soon.

Kon floated over and hung upside down in front of Tim's face blocking his view in a childish, (but cute) way to get his attention.

"Great, we're gonna go hang out don't make other plans."

Just then Raven seemed to materialize out of thin air scoffing slightly. Both boys turned to look at her and Tim once again swore at having been caught unaware, he was seriously off his game today.

"You two are finally going on a date?"

Both boys blushed and looked at each other then back to her ready to disagree but all that came out was very sporadic stuttering.  
Raven rolled her eyes and shrank into a puddle of black misty energy, when they turned around they found her sitting on the couch eating a salad, TV remote in hand. 

"Whatever." She said as she took a bite.

Kon looked back at Tim and shrugged waiting for a response to his unanswered request. Tim sighed and nodded, whenever Kon gave him those sad puppy eyes he couldn't help but agree to whatever demand the other teen made from him. Kon started beaming and swept Tim up for a hug spinning them both around before depositing Tim on the ground and zipping away to 'prepare Tim for a day he wouldn't soon forget.'

For some reason that filled Tim with a sense of strong dread.

~~~~~

They'd ended up going to the mall, and what turned out as just he and Kon quickly devolved into an entire Titan outing featuring Tim, Kon, Raven, Wally, Gar, and Cassie. Tim had to admit it was pretty fun, they didn't really get to do many normal teenage things like going to the mall with each other and just hanging out. They'd gone to see a movie, something about a killer clown. Tim had honestly been too distracted by Conner the whole time. Anytime something scary happened he would reach over and grab Tim's hand applying just enough pressure to be tight but not enough to seriously hurt him. Tim couldn't help but notice how Kon's very pale hands complemented his slightly tanned skin perfectly. 

The thing that frustrated Tim the most was that Kon never seemed to notice how the things he was doing could be perceived as flirtatious because well, mentally Kon was still very young. Tim had to constantly remind himself not to read too much into the other teen's actions and hope that one day his crush would fade...it also didn't help that Cassie made it a point to flirt with Kon in front of him all the while shooting knowing looks in Tim's direction.

As if on queue Cassie jumped on Kon's back as they were leaving the theatre smirking at Tim as Kon laughed and supported her.

"Hey Conner when are the two of us going to spend some alone time together?" She asked leaning her arms leisurely around Kon's shoulders Tim scoffed at the obvious bait choosing instead to busy himself on his phone.

Conner shrugged. "Dunno, I guess whenever we have a little bit of a break, you'll have to wait until I hang out with Tim though seeing as how our mini outing turned into a group outing."

Tim smirked. Yes, a silent victory in the battle being played out before Kon even though he was none the wiser to it. Tim could almost feel Cassie deflate a bit as she hopped off Kon's back.

Somewhere behind him he heard a loud growl followed by two very high pitched whines, he scowled and turned around to look at his teammates. Both Wally and Gar were holding their stomachs in mock pain

"Hey Gar, don't you just love how our fearless leader starves us all the time?" Wally asked sounding miserable.

"Yeah!" Gar chimed in. "It's Like he hates us or something, we only help save the world on a regular basis, we need nourishment!"

Tim rolled his eyes and bit back a cutting reply, however he was saved by Raven and her dulcet tone.

"Maybe if the two of you didn't constantly eat everything in the tower you wouldn't be starving all the time."

Gar balked and walked right beside her whining "WHAAAAT? We can't help that we're growing teenage boys." He pouted before he suddenly hit the ground with a large THUMP. Tim turned to see a slight twitch of Raven's lip as a small whisp of black smoke like energy dissipated from around Gar's foot. Tim raised an eyebrow at her to which she shrugged off and kept walking.

"No fair! No using our powers in public!"

Tim sighed, he loved his friends but sometimes being in charge of them was a chore. "Do you guys want pizza?" Gar and Wally lit up, Cassie nodded her consent, and Raven looked as disinterested as always which was probably consent to pizza for her. The four of them rushed ahead, while Kon stayed back to walk with Tim at a more leisurely pace.

"Hey, what's wrong.. You seem more broody than usual."

Tim started to flush slightly at being caught in his jealous funk. Leave it to Kon to always know when something was wrong. He wondered if Kon had a little bit of empathy powers to go along with his TK abilities he filed that away mentallyto research later. Tim debated telling him the truth but decided it wouldn't be worth the ensuing drama.

"Kon...how do you feel about Cassie?"

Kon's brow furrowed in his signature confused glazed over look. "She's a good friend and teammate why?"

Tim blushed even more. "No I mean...do you like her?"

Kon looked even more confused. "Yeah of course I like her, I like all the Titans, do you not like her?"

Tim sighed sometimes Kon was a bit too literal and didn't look for the nuances in things..it was actually one of his more endearing qualities. 

"No I do it's just...sometimes her competitive nature gets to me that's all." That was actually mostly the truth. Cassie and Kon were both Meta-Humans, not equals due to Kon being half Kryptonian but they stood on more solid footing. She could offer Kon things Tim couldn't, he was just so fragile..so breakable. Again as if sensing his self deprecating thoughts Kon wrapped an arm around his shoulder flashing his brilliant smile at Tim.

"Well if that's all you're worried about then don't be, you're the only person I've met that's amazing at well… Everything. No matter what Cassie throws at you you'll win. You're the world's greatest detective after all, who wouldn't bet on you."

Tim flushed bright red and looked down, his leather jacket suddenly becoming very interesting to him and very crucial for not looking at Kon's alluring blue eyes.

"Second best...but thank you, I always feel better after talking to you about my worries." Kon pulled him even closer against his side and Tim easily wrapped an arm around the taller teen's waist. It felt natural and easy. Tim listened to Kon talk about new video games he'd discovered with Wally and Gar as they walked to get pizza content with just being with his friend.

Upon arriving at the pizzeria Tim noticed that the others had already ordered 5 very large pizzas and had already acquired a table without them, he idly wondered how far behind the rest of the group they'd gotten but Kon didn't seem to mind much either. 

"Hey you assholes had better saved me some slices!" Kon yelled as they approached and sat down, Tim slid in the chair beside his.

"It's not our fault you and Tim always have to flirt every time we go somewhere, you gotta pick your priorities man, food or your boyfriend." Raven 'hummed' her agreement, while Gar snickered. Cassie rolled her eyes but said nothing. Wally poked fun at Kon while dangling a pizza inches from his face, Kon smirked and ate the pizza whole in one bite.

"If that's the case then it's an easy choice, it's always gonna be Tim." 

Kon gave a shrug like he didn't just say one of the most romantic things Tim had ever heard. He blushed again and looked over at Cassie who was glaring daggers and huffing angrily. Tim supposed that was one good thing to come of this outing. He sat and watched as his team all ate, talked, and laughed with each other. It reminded him of memories from long ago, back in the manor. He smiled to himself.

Tim felt the hair on his neck raise and before he even really processed what he was doing, he was doing a backflip out of the chair he was just in. He noticed that he'd only narrowly avoided a bullet whizzing right past the spot he'd just been sitting. The bullet continued it's trajectory heading right towards Cassie who glared and reflected it with her bracelet. 

"That was rude. Gar was in the middle of his story." She admonished.

Cassie flipped her hair over her shoulder and stood, Wally, Gar, and Kon following suit. The latter rushed over to Tim nervously checking him for signs of harm.

"Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

Tim huffed embarrassed at the treatment it's not like this was his first time getting shot at. He nodded and turned towards his attackers his breath catching in his chest. Before him stood the H.I.V.E Five, Jinx, Gizmo, Mammoth, Billy Numerous, and Private H.I.V.E. But that's not what had Tim's breath catching beside the rest of them stood two figures Tim hoped he wouldn't be seeing again soon, Batgirl and Slade.

Tim saw that Batgirl had added an addition to her black kevlar suit, a huge slash now split the bat-symbol on her chest in half not so different from the way the S was cut on Slade's armor. Tim's eyes narrowed viciously behind his glasses.

"Slade."

"Nice to see you again Robin. We really have to stop bumping into each other this way."

Slade held a steaming pistol in his right  
hand, no doubt the bullet he'd just shot at Tim.

"I believe you have something of ours, and Mr. Luthor would like it back."

Tim could feel the Titans looking at him with varying degrees of confusion, he ignored that for now taking note of their surroundings. There were too many civilians in the area, they needed a change of location and fast as this was sure to get messy.

"No thanks, I don't bargain with bounty hunters." Tim jipped.

Tim felt Kon slide closer to him to whisper in his ear. His voice low and sultry, Tim rationed Kon had no idea what that did to him.

"Tim, isn't that…" Kon trailed off letting the question hang in the air but they both knew exactly who was under that cowl. Kon had been the one to console Tim through his grief after the accident.

"Yes...but that doesn't matter right now." Tim grit out.

He could see the H.I.V.E Five inching closer and knew the fighting was only seconds away.

"Titans go!" Tim yelled at the top of his lungs making a dive for his estranged sister, he easily caught her off guard and they rolled a little distance away. She used the momentum from the roll to kick him off of her and now they both stood facing each other, about an intersection away from everyone else.

Tim looked back and saw the Titans all paired off fighting members of the HIVE. Wonder Girl was fighting Jinx in the air above them deflecting hexes with her bracelets lasso at the ready. Raven was flying around dodging projectiles from Private H.I.V.E occasionally muttering her spells and sending back projectiles of her own with the various debris lying around. Beast Boy had morphed into an Eagle and was chasing Gizmo up the side of a building narrowly avoiding bombs and laser blasts. Wally and Billy Numerous were occupied over by the water, Billy had made quite a few clones and Wally was doing his part to dispatch them just as fast, he'd become a blur of movement. Kon and Mammoth were engaged in a pushing match with each other, their hands locked in vice like grips while trying to gain some ground over the other. It seemed everyone had the same idea to get away from the civilians who were running around screaming, to their credit though what else could they do?

"Eyes this way boy wonder" Tim barely had time to put his hands up to cover his face as his sister aimed a kick at his temple. Even though he blocked the attack the force sent him flying backwards into a light pole. The wind was knocked out of him and he shakily stood just as another onslaught of attacks was sent his way. He parried most of his sister's attacks, instantly remembering her fighting technique from the days they'd trained together in their youth. However it seemed her time with slade had taught her a few more tricks. She pulled out a bomb from her utility belt and tossed it in the air above them, suddenly they were enveloped in a thick white fog and she disappeared.

Tim couldn't help but cough as he circled around trying to see anything but couldn't. The next thing he knew he was being kicked from behind again, the force sent him forward into the door of the movie theater the group had just come from before. He ran into the closest theater which was thankfully abandoned and hid behind one of the chairs. He cursed himself for not bringing his backup suit or a utility belt, or anything. He was horribly unprepared and knew Batman would be especially viscous in telling him how disappointed he was.

"Robin~~ Come out come out wherever you are little birdie.." he rolled his eyes at her taunting, really now we're they not above this childish behaviour? Once again his instincts alerted him to a threat before he fully perceived it himself, Slade had at some point entered the theater and fired a few more shots at him. Tim narrowly dodged and lunged at Slade aggressively punching and kicking him trying to gain any sort of ground. Slade evaded all his attacks and caught his fist flipping Tim over his shoulder towards the front of the theater. Suddenly Tim had both Slade and Batgirl attacking him from both sides. He put up a fight but was quickly overwhelmed.

He'd ended up in a headlock gripping his sister's forearm as she started to choke the life out him, he could feel he had a couple broken ribs and a fractured nose at least. He was so frustrated with himself, he should've been faster, better, he should've been able to handle this. 

"What, no smart remark this time?" Slade chuckled and brought the barrel of the gun to Tim's forehead. "Any last words?"

Tim grunted, partially from the pain in his chest, but partially from the effort he'd had to expend to talk with his windpipe being crushed.

"D-do you know why you'll never beat me Slade? No matter how many apprentices you have, or how grim it may look for me?"

Slade laughed full and hearty and brought the gun to Tim's temple leaning in closer so they were face to mask.

"Why is that?"

"Because." Tim started. "I have something you never will."

"Oh really and tell me what might that be?" Slade's eye crinkled behind his mask betraying his amusement.

Tim smiled as well. "Friends."

"AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS!" 

Slade was yanked by what seemed like an invisible cord into the air behind him where Raven was. Kid Flash was suddenly beside her waving his hands in a circular motion upwards, and a huge gust of wind carried Slade into the air higher. Wonder Girl crashed in from the ceiling wrapping Slade in her lasso and spun him around sending him flying back towards the ground. At some point Beast Boy had snuck in morphed as an insect. He chose this moment to morph into a kangaroo and kicked Slade with as much force as he could muster forward. Kon grabbed Slade by his neck out of the air and slammed him face first to the ground, the cemented floor cracking from the force.

Tim used the distraction to do a move he'd seen Batman do plenty of times. He kicked himself up off a nearby chair and bounded around behind Batgirl to reverse their positions. He then sent a back roundhouse kick into her head watching her sail sideways. At this point the pain in his ribs became crippling and the last thing he saw before blacking out was Kon's worried face rushing toward him. 

"What a beautiful shade of blue." He murmured softly.

~~~~~~~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went ahead and wrote the next chapter since I was inspired. Enjoy!


	3. Amenable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim contemplates death among other things. Protective Conner, dad-bat makes an appearance as well. Not much going on here mostly exposition with some fluff 👀

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I’ve been gone for so long. If anyone still wants to read this story I think I’ll actually finish it. I’ve been hit with a bout of inspiration so I’ll probably do updates regularly.

Amenable

Tim had always wondered what it would feel like to die. He'd always wanted to know if there was some sort of conscious thought he’d have right before it happened. If he’d tell himself, ‘this is it. Your whole life has amounted to this moment.’ But honestly, as he drifted in complete and total darkness he felt… Nothing. His life didn’t flash before his eyes, there was no stark moment of clarity. There was just...emptiness.

Regret.  
Sorrow.  
Fear.  
Suffering.

“It was your fault Tim. You didn’t save me.”

Anger.  
Hate.  
Loathing.  
Revenge.

“This could’ve all been avoided, if you would’ve come with me like I asked. Why didn’t you save me?”

“Why Tim?”

“Why didn’t you save me?”

Stop.

“You're the reason I died.”

Stop it please.

“It's all your fault.”

I can’t take this anymore.

“You’ll never be as great as he is, so why do you even try still?”

I SAID STOP IT!

The first thing Tim became aware of was a light mechanical beeping noise. It was on a steady rhythm, beeping about 63 times a minute. It was the only thing he could focus on in the endless sea of nothing, so he continued to count the beeping; and the minutes.

Eventually he’d lost count, he started counting again briefly but just gave up in the end. He started to focus on the things he could grasp. Obviously he wasn’t dead like he’d thought, otherwise he wouldn’t even be able to think.. Right? How does one know what it’s like to experience death? Maybe he was dead and he didn’t know it. He tried to focus on the last thing he could remember, but it was like trying to see in a rainstorm..all blurry, and unclear.

He remembered eventually the color blue, striking, and pure… Full of worry. Worry for him, he wanted to erase the worry from those eyes and fill the space with something meaningful instead. Something that mattered. Something that would be long lasting…  
Kon.  
Kon was the last thing he remembered seeing, alright that was a start..but where? What was going on? Tim became increasingly frustrated. He felt like he was on the verge of something but it was just out of reach. The strain of trying to remember was making him extremely tired too. Did you need to sleep when you were dead?  
Could you sleep?

How did he die? 

Not now. 

~~~~~~~~~~

More beeping, louder this time. More clear...soft murmurs too, concerned.. angry. Sad. Distant. Remorseful. Desperate. Longing.

“Come back to me.”

What?  
Who?  
What does that mean? 

Can’t focus. Not now.  
He was too tired again to try.

Tim didn’t think he liked being dead very much.

~~~~~~~~~~

Voices this time, distinct… however he couldn’t remember who they belonged to. The names were always on the tip of his tongue as if they’d rolled off of it often before. But again, nothing. Instead of trying to identify them he decided to just listen.

“Are you sure he’s gonna be okay? He hasn’t moved in a week.” This voice was the one from before. The one that asked him to come back.

“He’ll be fine. He’s taken worse. But all you’re doing by sitting at his side all day and night is making yourself crazy. Go.” 

Tim had an instinctual urge to go somewhere when this voice spoke up. As if he was being ordered. Both voices were male but the second had an air of authority around it that came from years and years of hardship and toil. 

Bruce. 

It was him. Bruce was there, (wherever there was) with him. For some reason that filled him with an emotion he didn’t know how to identify. However, he did know that it made him feel very nice. 

“Tim? Tim, are you awake? I’m here too, it’s Kon.” 

Tim felt a slight tingle, along with a bit of pressure where he’d assumed his hand was. Okay, definitely not dead.. concussed? Maybe comatose. Mmm, not probable based on that reaction to his thought, he must’ve said Bruce’s name out loud subconsciously. He must be injured. Pretty badly at that, a hit to the head for sure.

“See? Like I said he’ll be fine. Now back off. Give him space. He needs rest now, or would you like to be the reason he stays bedridden longer?”

A slight shuffling, and a sigh. Then the absence of the tingling pressure. Tim wanted to call out for it, he wanted it to come back. It was the first thing he could feel in the emptiness.. He tried to say anything but again...nothing. It was too much to hold on any longer. He needed to sleep.

Maybe Bruce was right after all.

~~~~~~~~~

The next time Tim became aware of something outside of the darkness he had a headache. It was one of the splitting pain ones that seemed like they had no end. He usually only got those when he’d get frustrated about something and focus intently on trying to solve whatever it was. He had that warm tingling feeling in his hand again; he wanted to be able to apply some pressure back. He concentrated really hard, and eventually he actually did manage to squeeze his hand around the other one slightly.

“Tim? Hey are you awake? Can you keep squeezing my hand?”

That was the same voice from before, Kon’s voice. Knowing Kon was still by his side filled him with a happiness that was hard to describe. He’d make a mental note to explore that feeling later. For now he was exerting all the effort his body could muster to try and respond. Eventually he felt his eyes clinch together and slowly started to blink.

At first everything was just a blur, he couldn’t make out any shapes or forms, everything was just different colors. After a few minutes he was finally able to regain his vision. The first thing he saw was Conner sitting right beside him squeezing his hand, his eyes that same striking shade of blue looked directly at Tim with so much concern. 

Tim looked away from Kon’s gaze suddenly feeling like a failure, he was always needing saving. 

“Tim? Hey Tim what’s wrong? Look at me, please?” Kon pleaded.

Tim looked over at Kon and tried to speak but all that came out were soft pants and groans. 

“Hey take it easy okay? You’re still pretty beaten up.” Kon moved over and helped Tim adjust his position to sit up.

When Kon grabbed Tim around the waist Tim felt a weird little flutter in his stomach. 

“H-how long?” Was about all Tim could muster up. His voice sounded gruff and weak. Foreign to his ears.

“Hmm, about three and a half weeks in all now. You had a lot of broken bones….you almost didn’t make it. I-“ Conner trailed off and Tim felt horrible. He’d almost died and his best friend had to sit right beside him at his side watching.

“M-sorr-“ Tim tried.

Kon looked at Tim with eyes full of rage, Tim thought he saw them flash red for a second even. 

“Don’t ever apologize for getting hurt, Deathstroke should be the one apologizing. I wanna find him and rip his freaking throat out.”

Kon gripped the bedside table and it broke apart with the pressure, Tim grabbed Kon’s arm and tried to speak as loud as he could.

“Kon-El. Stop.”

Whenever Tim used his Kyrptonian name Kon always knew he really meant whatever he was saying, and really wanted to get that across.

Kon looked at Tim and cupped his cheek with his right hand and leaned close to him. He touched their foreheads, closed his eyes and started to breathe. Tim recognized it as Kon trying to meditate his way to a calmer state of mind so he joined in. Tim put his hand over Conner’s over his cheek. They’d never meditated this intimately before but he was finding he very much enjoyed it. They sat together for a decent length of time in silence just breathing in and out, their scents and their breaths intermingling in the space they shared. After a decent length of time they heard a light coughing noise from the other side of the room. 

Kon’s eyes snapped open, and he whipped his head to the side. He let out a low rumble that sounded similar to a growl. Tim noticed his eyes had turned red also. He turned his head to the side, and sleepily looked up through his bangs to find his mentor leaning against the doorframe looking annoyed. 

“Back off. Now.” Batman approached the bed with his hand on his utility belt. No doubt he was getting ready to deploy his secret stash of kryptonite. Tim looked back at him and shook his head.

“K-Kon g-go.”

Kon looked at Batman and rubbed the back of his head.

“Sorry Mr. Batman… Uh sir. I was just kind of zoning out and-.”

He trailed off as Batman just stared at him with a blank expression. 

“Right okay. I’ll..be back later Tim.” He walked out of the room, the door whirring shut and locking as he exited. 

Tim sat up fully and stared face to cowl with his mentor, with Tim trying (as always) to read the other man’s face. The two of them couldn’t just chat, they had to size up the other first. See who had the upper hand. It was always like a game of chess until…

“We need to talk.”

‘Damn.’ Tim thought. ‘He won again.’


End file.
